The architect of Britain’s nuclear strategy under Margaret Thatcher has called for the Government to cut the controversial Hinkley Point nuclear plan in half to save cash – and placate France and China. Former Energy Secretary Lord Howell said the current scheme was ‘impossible’ and privately many in the industry favoured going ahead on a much smaller scale. Howell, father-in-law of former Chancellor George Osborne who championed Hinkley Point, added: ‘This is a project built on technology that hasn’t yet worked. It is also a project designed in an age when oil was $110 a barrel – and it’s now less than half that.’ He said technology had advanced around the world on building smaller reactors at a fraction of the cost –‘£1billion for a reactor instead of £20billion.’
Daily Mail 6th Aug 2016 read more »
Electricite de France SA won a ruling avoiding the temporary suspension of its decision to go ahead with an 18-billion pound ($23.7 billion) project to build Britain’s first nuclear power plant in more than 20 years. Judge Marie-Helene Poinseaux said Friday there is no urgency for an interim ruling pending a final decision on Sept. 22. EDF’s main labor unions sought to have the board’s decision overturned as they want the project to be delayed to reduce financial pressure and construction risks. They want it pushed back by about three years to give the company time to complete the construction of similar reactors in France and China, which are over-budget and years behind schedule.
Bloomberg 5th Aug 2016 read more »
A Paris court on Friday confirmed the EDF board’s investment decision on the Hinkley Point nuclear newbuild project in Britain, an EDF Works Council official told Reuters. The French state-controlled utility’s Works Council had asked the Paris court to annul the board’s vote, arguing that it had not received the necessary documents from management to give a non-binding preliminary advice to the company. “The Works Council takes note of the court’s unfavorable decision,” the official said. He added that the court’s decision did not invalidate a separate Works Council lawsuit asking the court to oblige EDF management to release confidential documents relating to Hinkley Point. A hearing in that case is set for Sept 22.
Daily Mail 5th Aug 2016 read more »
EDF Chairman and CEO Jean-Bernard Levy had no prior knowledge of Britain’s decision to review the Hinkley Point nuclear project and will sue a French union for suggesting otherwise, the French utility said. In a statement late on Friday, EDF said Levy would take legal action against the Sud Energie union for alleging he had lied to reporters by saying he had not known before the board meeting that Britain would conduct a fresh review.
Reuters 6th Aug 2016 read more »
Mrs May hit the Hinkley Point nuclear power deal pause button, a hugely expensive project which would be a lousy deal for taxpayers. If we really do need Chinese investment, put it into small and medium scale infrastructure projects, into education and business development so regions like the North East can flourish. I felt Mr Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse concept sounded a bit too grandiose and gimmicky. It needn’t be the only game in town surely. I want solid projects; if, for example, we linked with Scotland in developing renewable energy production we could, literally, be the UK’s powerhouse. The Hinkley saga exemplifies the failings of decades of British industrial policy. The lack of a long-term strategy is replicated across most sectors of the economy – biotech, transport, energy production as well as advanced manufacturing.
Newcastle Chronicle 5th Aug 2016 read more »
While the government has postponed approval for the project, experts say fears over China’s involvement in Hinkley Point is overblown, and the huge cost of the plant’s public subsidy remains the biggest threat to its future. “Are we really saying as a country that we are so distrustful of our future relations with the Chinese that we think it’s a real possibility” they could pull the plug on a nuclear plant, Barry Gardiner, the opposition Labour Party’s spokesman on energy, said Thursday in a phone interview. The government needs to “take a critical look at what is really wrong with this contract, which is that the public is being asked to pay 30 billion pounds of subsidy.” Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative member of parliament for Harwich and North Essex, near the proposed Bradwell plant, last year urged the government to assess the security implications of a Chinese designed, owned and operated technology. It could be a “Trojan horse” used to threaten the U.K at a time of critical disagreement or conflict, he said. He wasn’t immediately available for comment on Friday. There is potentially more cause for concern about Bradwell, said Yeo and Grimston. However both doubted the Chinese company would have any motivation to switch off the plant.
Bloomberg 5th Aug 2016 read more »
Letter Greg Willkinson: In his autumn statement last year, George Osborne flagged up the prospect of a tidal lagoon power project in Swansea Bay, only to put it out for review when the price of oil and gas came down. The modest Swansea Bay venture is set to pilot a fleet of bigger enclosures with two-way turbine arrays to harness an exceptional tidal range, extending from Welsh and British coasts across the Channel to France. The technology of lagoon-wall dykes and low-speed turbines is relatively simple. Lagoons carry no heavy overhang of radioactive waste and decommissioning. They are most unlikely to blow up and in case of major breakdown the damage would not be insupportable.
Observer 7th Aug 2016 read more »
Letter David Barnard: Your editorial says: “But renewables cannot provide the stable excess capacity needed to deal with short-term surges in demand.” But surely that is exactly what hydroelectric power can do very quickly. Pumped storage systems such as exist in Wales and Scotland, and tidal lagoons such as are proposed in the Severn Estuary, provide turn-of-the-tap electricity. We just need to get on with building them.
Observer 7th Aug 2016 read more »
Letter Liz Fowler: Theresa May is fully justified in giving careful consideration to the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power station project (“Axeing Hinkley may cost £2.5bn”, News, and “If we stop Hinkley we have to go hard for growth”, Editorial, last week). Despite the eye-watering sums involved, it will provide only 7% of our electricity needs and those costs are more than likely to spiral. If a fraction of that money were spent on incentives to put solar panels on all industrial buildings, warehouses and office blocks, the power would be where it is needed. In addition, research into efficient methods of electricity storage would be money well spent.
Times 7th Aug 2016 read more »
Letter Marion Judd If Hinkley Point C goes ahead, individuals and businesses with sufficient means to install solar panels or other renewable technologies will do so to offset the increased costs of electricity. This will leave the poor and disadvantaged even more so.
Times 7th Aug 2016 read more »
THE NEWS HIT headlines last week that a massive new power plant was soon to be built at Hinkley Point in England, just 250km from the coast of Ireland. Hinkley Point C was given the final investment approval by French energy giant EDF, which would be building the plant in conjunction with the Chinese. Ireland has a history with not being the biggest fan of UK nuclear power plants and projects. The government and anti-nuclear activists were long-engaged in a battle with the UK over the Sellafield nuclear site, located on the Cumbrian coast 180km from Ireland’s coast.
(Irish) Journal 6th Aug 2016 read more »